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The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

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Hot air and ill-informed banter

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It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

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The new Pharrell song isn’t as catchy as “Blurred Lines” or “Beautiful”, but I like the genre of songs that are purely simple and fun, no lamenting a world that ain’t so pretty, no Swiftian shots at exes, no indie wanking about someone’s obscure object of desire.

What are your favorite songs in this genre? I’ll go with “Walking on Sunshine”, “Sing A Song”, “Jackie Wilson Said”, “Ignition”, “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” and the Shonen Knife cover of “Top of the Word” (obscure but so upbeat!).

Reader Interactions

144Comments

  14. 14.

    The Other Chuck

    Rainbow Connection by Kermit T. Frog

    But is it wrong of me to want to hear Tom Waits cover it?

  23. 23.

    DougJ

    @raven:

    Well, because they’re Irish, they couldn’t just make it a simple song. The lyrics are about how they’ll get old and tired like poor old Johnny Ray and those people ’round here so that’s why they need to carpe diem while they’re still far too young and clever.

  28. 28.

    DougJ

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I just listened to the radio a lot and had a “High Fidelity” style roommate. I’m certainly not an expert like cleek or Jewish Steel or the guy from Can’t Explain.

  31. 31.

    BGinCHI

    I’m gonna go with “Holiday in Cambodia.”

    No one else could make a refrain out of Pol Pot.

    That shit is catchy.

  32. 32.

    Froley

    Sly and the Family Stone, “Dance to the Music” and “I Want to Take You Higher”
    Basement Jaxx, “Red Alert”
    Deee-Lite, “Groove Is in the Heart”

  38. 38.

    kwAwk

    Life of Riley – Lightning Seeds

    Stray Cat Strut – Stray Cats

    Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper

    Without Me – Eminem

  43. 43.

    Belafon

    @kwAwk: One of my Company Commanders in Navy bootcamp played the B52s a lot. It’s the closest I come to PTSD.

  44. 44.

    the Conster

    Life is a Highway and anything by the Young Rascals – Groovin’ , People Got to Be Free or Beautiful Morning for starters.

  45. 45.

    raven

    Here’s an interesting tidbit from the Guardian:

    12m ago
    Officials in the Austrian-lead search have said that the change in search area is customary for search missions of this magnitude. “I don’t count the original work a waste of time,” John Young, an official at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, told The Wall Street Journal.

    Investigators aren’t saying for sure that this will be the final search area. Officials from both Australia and Malaysia said the data may be analyzed again, prompting them to look elsewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.

    Must be searching the undewater mountains!

  46. 46.

    ted

    I was walking down our main street yesterday and a car came past blasting “Happy” from inside. Right next to me three teen girls started clapping along to the off beat. Yep, it’s a great little pop song.

  50. 50.

    Belafon

    @kwAwk: On the day he determined that some of the people needed “special instruction” he would have us line the path to a small room and dance to Love Shack as they walked into the room.

  52. 52.

    Jewish Steel

    but I like the genre of songs that are purely simple and fun

    You say you’re not a Beatles guy, but this sums up a lot of their work.

  53. 53.

    Booger

    Click on over to 24hoursofhappy.com if you weren’t planning to do anything for the next full day.

  54. 54.

    Keith G

    Иew Radicals’ song, You Get What You Give is a fantastic walking song, as is Under Pressure with Bowie/Mercury – I always start my walks off with those. Note: Both clock in at ~120 pbm, a good walking pace.

  56. 56.

    Jewish Steel

    @mjj: Good one! I’ll take Party At Ground Zero.

    @raven: Just follow the sound of the Alpen Didgeridoo when you’re lost.

  57. 57.

    Gravenstone

    @John Cole: Sweet fucking Jesus H Christ do I loathe Don’t worry…. Played into the fucking ground, then resurrected and the ambulatory corpse beaten to a fine froth.

  61. 61.

    Gravenstone

    @C.S.: Back in the day, I was driving my grandmother somewhere and popped in my tape of “Brothers in Arms”. Up comes Walk of Life, and she says it sounds like a damned funeral dirge.

    And people wonder where I get my curmudgeonly nature from …

  63. 63.

    penpen

    nominate these for this genre of “life affirming pop”

    Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke
    Prince – I Wanna Be Your Lover

  64. 64.

    penpen

    nominate these for this genre of “life affirming pop”

    Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke
    Prince – I Wanna Be Your Lover

  69. 69.

    West of the Rockies

    Okay, so this is musically-related, and this is an open thread, so here goes…

    I HATE how ignorant audiences are nowadays at live performances. My wife and I went to see a live performance of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony… After those first four iconic notes… into the exquisite silence that followed… came the sound of a teenage boy tearing into a bag of fucking Gummi Worms!

    I felt very, very murdery!

  70. 70.

    RSA

    Stuff that comes to mind:

    Celebration, Kool & the Gang
    Mr. Blue Sky, ELO
    Gimme Some Lovin, The Spencer Davis Group

    And I don’t know if there’s too much wanking in it, but Mr. Jones and Me, Counting Crows.

  71. 71.

    Quicksand

    I think the pinnacle of this genre is Hey Ya! by Outkast. It’s perfect.

    And I’m very much an aficionado of aggressively misanthropic and damaged post-rock type stuff, so this is really out-of-character for me.

  73. 73.

    Mike E

    @schrodinger’s cat: Tyson’s attempt to bridge scientific curiosity with spirituality (a small ‘s’ here, i suppose) may be futile, especially when it comes to fundamentalist furvor behind creationism and blocking scientific pursuit in general, but I like his passion so far. Sagan had it too, but he also had that ‘billions’ thing going for him in a pop culture phenomenon thingy as well. Also.

    The Halley episode was the 1st clunker in the bunch so far IMO.

    eta I Wish, by Steveland Morris
    etaa Boogie On Reggae Woman

  76. 76.

    Marc in MD

    “Stupidly Happy” by XTC. (Not the only candidate from that amazing and under-adored band.)

  79. 79.

    RSA

    Also…

    Stand, REM
    Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
    Rosalita, Bruce Springsteen

    These just make me smile and turn up the stereo.

  81. 81.

    Moomoo's Clean-Up Detail (Once Posted as Atlanta Rhythm Method Man)

    “The Groove Line” by Heatwave is my go-to peppy, upbeat song, with “Boogie Nights” a close second. And I’ve taken a liking to Andrew Gold’s “Never Let Her Slip Away.”

    And Andy Gibb’s “An Everlasting Love.”

    *ducks*

    /returns to lurk status

  86. 86.

    justawriter

    Lots of smiles here from some of the titles including Celebration … It came out when I was in college and while on choir tour we had a conga line going up and down the length of the bus to that tune.

    A couple of others I would add –
    If I Had a Million Dollars – Barenaked Ladies
    I Believe in Music – Mac Davis
    Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah – Allan Sherman

  87. 87.

    Moo-Moo's Clean-Up Detail

    “The Groove Line” by Heatwave, with “Boogie Nights” a close second.

  89. 89.

    Dick Woodcock

    The Shonen Knife song is actually titled “Top of the World”, it’s a cover of a Carpenter’s song.

    Yeah, they do sing it as Top of the Word, though. Darn accents.

  90. 90.

    lamh36

    I’ma hip hop party chick and Kid N Play’s “Rollin With Kid N Play” always gets me moving and smiling.

    Prince’s Baby I’m A Star is also a great song that really has no meaning other than to make u get up and get moving

  91. 91.

    lamh36

    Oh The O jays “I Love Music” and “Love Train” are def plain ole just happt songs.

  93. 93.

    Svensker

    Walk Like an Egyptian.

    Atomic Dog

    Brick House

    Gap Band – Early In the Morning

    Yes, I liked the 80s. Why do you ask?

  97. 97.

    ? Martin

    How do you pronounce ‘Swfitian’? I want to end it like Venetian, but with a drunken slurring at the beginning.

    96 comments and nobody mentioned it. You guys are getting senile.

  100. 100.

    Comrade Mary

    I HATE Walking on Sunshine. HATE. While Happy is not in the top pantheon, it’s a lovely song and I don’t HATE it. And do not get me started on Rise Up from The Parachute Club.

    Best happy songs that most of you might know:

    Stevie – Don’t You Worry ’bout A Thing
    Sly and the Family Stone – Everybody is a Star
    Talking Heads – Stay Up Late AND Naive Melody

    A little more obscure:

    Spearhead – Say Hey
    54-40 — Love You All
    And trumping EVERYTHING: this version of Don’t You Evah by Spoon — because Keepon

  106. 106.

    notoriousJRT

    @cleek:
    Yup
    Also Feelin’ Groovy. Simon & G
    Groovin’. Rascals

    Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic always picks me up from a funk.

  109. 109.

    p.a.

    Surfin’ Bird
    T.Heads: Don’t Worry About the Government
    J.Edwards: Shanty
    Brewer and Shipley: One Toke Over the Line
    Pure Prairie League: Amie
    Feat: Will in’

    All these get me singin’. Which believe me is something you do not want to experience.

  110. 110.

    Mike E

    @schrodinger’s cat: Not to say that it’s an unworthy story; I thought the commercial breaks totally bogged it down. NdeGT is going for some heady stuff here, and some subjects may not translate to Fox teevee so readily.

  113. 113.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Mike E: I love Classical Mechanics and I think it is beautiful and mathematically elegant and one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Without it there is no physics, it forms the basis of everything that came after that.

  119. 119.

    burnspbesq

    Sly & the Family Stone, “Hot Fun in the Summertime”
    Marshall Crenshaw, “Rockin’ Around in NYC”
    Fountains of Wayne, “A Dip in the Ocean”

  122. 122.

    burnspbesq

    A couple more:

    Was (Not Was), “Walk the Dinosaur”
    The Plimsouls, “Zero Hour”
    Los Lobos “I Got Loaded”
    Richard & Linda Thompson, “Wall of Death”
    Crowded House, “Something So Strong”

  123. 123.

    Amir Khalid

    Sherry Darling. Yeah, Bruce is griping about his girlfriend’s ma, but it’s really all in good fun.

  125. 125.

    Seanly

    My wife & I love Pharrell’s “Happy”. Given the rough & long chemo treatment (and low odds for 5-year survivability) for ALL that my wife is going through, we need all the cheering & brightness that we can get.

    One of my other favorites is The Sunday’s song “Summertime”.

  126. 126.

    FridayNext

    Life is Grand by Camper Van Beethoven
    Take The Skinheads Bowling is pretty good, too.

    Captain Sensible’s Wot

    Just about anything by Slade

  127. 127.

    Andrey

    @West of the Rockies: It’s not a “nowadays” thing. Beethoven wrote his symphonies in a time where his audience was quite likely to be eating, chatting, laughing, and applauding during the performance.

  134. 134.

    ruemara

    @Mnemosyne: Love those. To death.

    How odd. I actually likes this Pharrell song. Normally, I avoid most popular music like the plague of locusts that it is, but this one is good, danceable and not making feel like I’m watching audio amateur porn. Nice.

  135. 135.

    mai naem

    I’ll add a few – Sugar Sugar, Black Eyed Peas- I Gotta Feeling, Jimmy Cliff – I Can See Clearly Now, Bruno Mars – Just the Way You Are, Queen – You’re My Best Friend, Roy Orbison – Pretty Woman, Stevie Wonder -Jammin’, Paul Simon -Kodachrome, Abba – Mama Mia, Olivia Newton &John Travolta -You’re the One That I Want, the GoGos- Our Lips Are Sealed, Jesus Jones -Right Here Right Now.

  136. 136.

    moderateindy

    “Shambala”: 3 dog night’s version
    “Victoria” The Kinks
    “Hey Little Goldfish” not written by an actual band, but for a fairly awful, but totally star studded movie called “Hello Down There”. Richard Dreyfuss’ first ever part as the band’s bassist. Some of the other stars that you would recognize, Tony Randall, Janet Leigh, Jim Backus, Roddy McDowell, Ken Berry, Charlotte Ray, Merv Griffin, and a few other character actors from the 60-70’s
    http://youtu.be/zfYeylQV6VE

  142. 142.

    Andy G.

    Just about anything by the 5th Dimension, with the obvious exception of “One Less Bell To Answer.”

  143. 143.

    Kris Collins

    Stevie Wonder- You Are the Sunshine of My Life, Isn’t She Lovely

    Billy Joel- Rosalinda’s Eyes

    Earth, Wind, and Fire- September

  144. 144.

    john fremont

    I Was Made To Love Her- Stevie Wonder
    Sweet Sweet Baby (I’m Falling)- Lone Justice

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